Thoughts, comments and observations about the Chicago White Sox from the Communications Department.

August 2008

Jim Thome and his dad, Chuck, are scheduled to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, tomorrow on our off day. Jim will deliver the baseball from his 500th home run and tour the Hall with his dad.

If you remember, Jim and his dad tried to reach Cooperstown in January/February, but were snowed out.

Finally

Interesting news on the media front in Chicago.

I am going to refrain from commenting, but do know that what I am hearing on the street is much different than the public spin from my favorite columnist. It seems to be much more about who got to write today’s column on Obama than the Chinese revelation that newspapers are failing.

No matter your reaction to the news, this (from Crain’s) has to be one of the greatest “see you later” quotes ever from a boss to an exiting employee:

“The Chicago Sun-Times had the best sports section in the city before Jay Mariotti came to town — that’s why he signed up with us — and his departure does not change that,” Sun-Times Editor Michael Cooke said in a statement Wednesday. “We wish Jay well and will miss him — not personally, of course, but in the sense of noticing he is no longer here, at least for a few days.”

A group of White Sox players, led by Scott Linebrink, visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center today before our game to spend time with military personnel rehabbing and recoverng at the hospital. One participant in the visit called the experience, “life-changing.”

Along with many White Sox staffers, we travelled to Kankakee this morning for Andy Lock’s (aka Andy Cam) funeral service. Gene Honda, one of Andy’s best friends, read a nice note from Ozzie Guillen to the family, and just to show you what kind of team we have, Mark Buehrle and Jim Thome both sent the family flowers for the service.

Andy as very active in the annual Easter Seals telethon in Kankakee. Anyone interested could certainly make a donation in his name to that great cause.

It has been a day to remember what is most important in life … your family, friends and those who are willing to donate their time, energies and even their lives, for others.

I was surprised that the reaction to AJ’s baserunning/obstruction from yesterday was that he “cheated.” As baserunners caught in a rundown, you are (or at least I was) taught to do one of two things: 1. run directly at the glove of a fielder who is trying to catch a thrown ball so that the ball hits you; or 2. look for a fielder to run into (i.e. obstruction). AJ did just what he was supposed to do … how is that cheating?

Many of you saw the article on our website or saw the pregame tribute or listened to Ed and Hawk last night, but Andy Lock, our longtime scoreboard cameraman, passed away on Wednesday prior to the game. He was just 52.

Andy worked for the Sox (as well as Bulls, Bears and Blackhawks) since 1990, was a 10-time employee of the homestand and covered something like 180 sporting events each year and something like 1,280 Sox games during his career.

Even more important, he gave freely of his time and expertise on behalf of others in need, working for decades on events like an annual Easter Seals telethon.

There were many tears shed here over the last couple of days and Andy will be missed.

I finally got a chance to listen in to an Ozzie pregame today, where he spent a lot of time complimenting the Rays, a much different franchise, he noted, from when he played there.

“They are one of the best stories in baseball this year,” Guillen said, “Maybe in the past 10 years … well, not better than us when we won in 2005, and maybe Boston when they won, but a good story …”

He nominated TB manager Joe Maddon for manager of the year.

“It’s not even close,” he said. When a reporter mentioned Guillen for the award, he scoffed.

“It’s a great honor and I love having the trophy in my home to look at, but players win that award for you, not the manager. It’s a player award. There are some pretty horse(bleep) managers who have won Manager of the Year.”

Notes

Anyone else tired from staying up to watch the Angels-Twins game last night? Torii, ya killed me. Nothing like staying up late and then going to bed angry because of someone else’s game … Chris Chelios of the Redwings will be in the ballpark tonight with the Stanley Cup … Dave Wills returns to his hometown this weekend … a very few ticket remain for tomorrow and Sunday, so act now so you are not shut out.

Stories

Laughing before the game, some staff members remembered El Duque’s heroic effort in Game 3 of the 2005 Division Series at Boston. With the bases loaded, El Duque was summoned in from the bullpen …

“Can you imagine what it was like,” someone offered. “The phone rings in the bullpen and guys are shaking in fear on the bench. Duque stands and says, ‘That is for me.” (imagine a heavy Cuban accent)

After getting out of the jam and after the White Sox won that game to advance to the ALCS, Duque offered …

“Those situations, they are easy,” he explained. “Everyone wants to be the hero, so they swing at anything and get themselves out. Just throw sliders out of the strike zone.”

And what about that final 3-2 pitch to Damon with no place to put him, pretty tough to throw that slider then?

Front door slider. Probably the only strike he threw durng the at-bat.

A piece of White Sox history.

Clarification

Apparently, my request for W-L records has caused some division, even within families.

So, to clarify …

1. The tickets must have been purchased (you know who you are on this one)

2. The tickets had to have been used (no fair counting a game, say like Picnic In The Park, when you didn’t use the tickets and helped cost us a victory by not going … again, you know who you are).

With 184 home runs, the White Sox top the majors, while our +105 run differential ranks second to Boston in the AL … Carlos Quentin’s 35 home runs lead the majors by two (ahead of Philly’s Ryan Howard and Arizona’s Adam Dunn) …our .137 winning percentage improvement from 2007 ranks second in the majors to Tampa Bay (+.234) …

Scheduling Fun

Front offices throughout baseball currently are featuring a unique hobby, running through the remaining schedules for contending teams to try and forecast how the standings might end up … one trick is to go through optimistically, once down the middle and once pessimistically (all of us from Chicago will understand that third method) … so how many victories is it going to take to win the American League Central?

White Sox Remaining Schedule (72 victories entering today’s game)

SEA

TB

TB

TB

at Bal (completion of suspended game)

at Bal

at Bal

at Bal

OFF

at Bos

at Bos

at Bos

at Cle

at Cle

at Cle

OFF

LAA

LAA

LAA

TOR

TOR

TOR

TOR

DET

DET

DET

at NYY

at NYY

at NYY

at NYY

at KC

at KC

at KC

OFF

at Min

at Min

at Min

CLE

CLE

CLE

and for Minnesota (71 victories entering today’s game)

OAK

at LAA

at LAA

at LAA

at LAA

at Sea

at Sea

at Sea

at Oak

at Oak

at Oak

at Oak

OFF

at Tor

at Tor

at Tor (All White Sox fans should stop and give thanks for Republicans, regardless of your own political preference)

DET

DET

DET

OFF

KC

KC

KC

at Bal

at Bal

at Bal

at Cle

at Cle

at Cle

at TB

at TB

at TB

at TB

OFF

SOX

SOX

SOX

KC

KC

KC

Now, see how many times and in which ways, you can drive yourself crazy.

Excercise

We love how our fans keep their own personal W-L record for games attended during a season (I heard from one guy who is 10-0 in 2008 with Nick Swisher having homered in the last six games).

So, I want to hear from you … any great, amazing records this year? Any streaks in tact? Any tremendous stories?

Sorry I haven’t posted since Thursday. Friday, I took my family to the air and water show. The team was in Oakland over the weekend (and I was still angry about Friday night) and yesterday, I played in the annual charity golf tournament for the Deicke Eye Center in Wheaton. Dr. Tracy Williams, one of our eye doctors, hosts a tournament each summer to raise funds for his center. Ed Farmer and Hawk Harrelson captain two teams and we play 27 holes. It’s a long, fun day.

By the time I battled traffic down 355 and up 55, I didn’t get to the ballpark until the second inning (so credit the runs to me).

Joe Crede begins anoher rehab stint in Charlotte tonight, so let’s all hope for the best as far as his back is concerned.

First round pick Gordon Beckham is hitting .636 (7-11) with a double, home run, four RBI and four runs scored in his first three games at Class A Kannapolis.

If ever anyone wanted to compliment KW and our baseball ops department, today would have been the day … first, we beat Gio Gonzalez (how can you trade him) in Oakland Sunday, then return home to handle Seattle’s Jarrod Washburn with Carlos Quentin homering to extend his league lead.

No BP today as the team needs to be dressed for the game by 11 am. Players are scheduled to take part in a special autograph session for kids from 11 to 11:30.

Two great plays last night, one by Ken Griffey Jr. on a diving catch and the second (actually first in the game) by Juan Uribe to save us two runs.

In the end, the staff felt that DJ Carrasco was more valuable out of the pen for us right now than making one start every five days. Lance Broadway, who pitched well in a start against the Royals last September, takes the mound today.

Jose Contreras underwent outpatient surgery today to repair his ruptured left Achilles tendon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The procedure was performed by Dr. Charles Bush-Joseph and Dr. Simon Lee (a foot and ankle specialist).

Jose is home and recovering with no timetable yet for his return.

Personal note: I suffered a torn Achilles in December 2000 while playing basketball. I am still as quick and explosive as I was before the injury, but that isn’t saying very much …

Happy Anniversary

My spouse knew what she was getting into, but tonight is our 18th wedding anniversary, one that is rarely spent away from the ballpark.

In fact, anniversary No. 1 was the day Wilson Alvarez threw a no-hitter … so we celebrated in a Baltimore hotel room eating turkey clubs while every journalist in Venezuela called my room.

Anniversary No. 2 came in Anaheim with something like a 15-inning game. We had reservations for that night at North Beach in SF, but the long game ended those chances. I had the Angels staff put a “Happy Anniversary” up on the scoreboard in the 12th inning. We had dinner that night at the Oakland Airport Hilton … turkey clubs.

She must love me.

The End

While some on this blog seemed to give up hope over the weekend, I would prefer to focus on winning three of four games from the Red Sox.

Meta

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